Exhibition of the week
Natalia Goncharova
This Russian futurist painted magically transformed glimpses of everyday life before the 1917 revolution.
• Tate Modern, London, 6 June to 8 September.
Also showing
Now: Anya Gallaccio
Gallaccio’s art of natural stuff, including ice and leaves, is at the heart of a survey of current art that also embraces Roger Hiorns and Charles Avery.
• Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh, 1 June to 22 September.
E17 Art Trail
The National Gallery has lent Artemisia Gentileschi’s self-portrait as Saint Catherine to this festival in which 8,500 Walthamstow residents are taking part.
• Walthamstow, London, 1-16 June.
Francis Bacon
Contorted flesh that expresses the agony of love makes Bacon’s art both unbearable and unmissable.
• Gagosian Grosvenor Hill, London, 6 June to 3 August.
Museum of the Moon
This artwork by Luke Jerram explores our satellite in the 50th anniversary year of the first Apollo moon landing.
• Natural History Museum, London, until 1 January.
Masterpiece of the week
The Toilet of Venus by Guido Reni and studio
The goddess of love leans back as her attendants put on her jewellery and sandals and do her hair. Guido Reni’s colours are intense and strange. Venus looks almost blue. The pearly figures glow against shadowy recesses. Gold, purple and blue draperies add to the studied luxury. Long limbs suspended in space resemble waxen sculptures. This is a still and fetishised moment of beauty, observed with calm curiosity. Reni is one of the most insidiously erotic of old masters. His painting of Saint Sebastian elicited sexual responses from both Oscar Wilde and Yukio Mishima. This canvas, too, which experts recently upgraded from a studio product to a work with Reni’s original touches, has a peculiar baroque sensuality.
• National Gallery, London.
Image of the week
Into the Mountain by Simone Kenyon
Dancers warm up with space blankets in Scotland’s Cairngorm mountains before performing this new site-specific work. Inspired and informed by Nan Shepherd’s 1974 book about these ancient hills, The Living Mountain, the project explores and celebrates women’s relationships with high and wild places. The audience walk with performers and a “sensory instructor”, choosing one of three routes that take up to six hours. Read more about it.
What we learned
At 85, Frank Bowling was long overdue this magnificent Tate Britain show
Women prisoners connected with the drama of Artemisia Gentileschi
The Wellcome Collection is getting to grips with ageing and death
Italy’s cultural heritage is falling into ruin
Stationery makes great street art
Jock McFadyen is bringing punk to the Royal Academy summer shindig
For an arty getaway, head to the Scottish Highlands
Female artists have created a strange world of Unconscious Landscape
Alix Marie is fascinated by bodybuilding
New York has a new poster museum
An Australian family is pushing galleries everywhere to champion female artists
Germaine Greer scorns Leonardo da Vinci
Stanislava Pinchuk is mapping identity with tattoos
A forgotten photographer who fled the Nazis is being remembered …
… and we should take care not to forget the artists of today, too
The home of Velázquez could be saved – thanks to Shakespeare
Education should not look away from uncomfortable art
A Constable sketch of his wife has been rediscovered
Las Vegas’s hotels signify a disappearing American past
Don’t forget
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